Virtual bullet charging device for gun game machine

ABSTRACT

A gun game machine from where a player takes out and holds a model gun to play a game. When the number of operations of a trigger lever (6) attains the preset number of times, the game is stopped and, at the same time, a solenoid (20) operates to disengage a boss (23) of a lever (19) from a recess (22b) of a advance and retreat member (15) and the advance and retreat member is ejected down by the effect of a spring (24). When the player pushes up the advance and retreat member (15) to set, a sensor (16) detects the pushing action and resets the trigger count value for enabling the game to continue. The action of pushing up the advance and retreat device (15) is similar to the real action of loading a cartridge into a real gun and the player can enjoy a game having realism.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an gun game machine wherein the playertakes out a model gun away from an enclosure and holds it by hand toplay a game and, more particularly, a virtual bullet charging device torealize an imaginary charging of bullets into the model gun.

BACKGROUND ART

In prior art, a machine as illustrated for example in FIG. 3 is known asgame machine in which the player takes out a gun model away from acasing of a game machine to play a game. This game machine includes agame machine casing 2 which comprises a built-in monitor 1 whichdisplays a sequence of images changing according to an appropriatestory. Two gun stands 4 are arranged on a front control panel 3 of themachine casing 2 and each gun stand 4 receives, respectively, one modelgun 5.

Before playing a game, the player removes the model gun 5 from the gunstand and holds the model gun in his hand away from the machine casing.When the game begins, the monitor 1 displays predetermined images andthe player pulls a trigger lever 6 of the gun model aiming at theshooting target within the displayed images. According to a judgmentprocedure belonging to a prior art well-known as itself, when the modelgun 5 is judged to have shot the target precisely, the score shown in ascore indication space displayed at a predetermined place within themonitor 1 will be increased.

As for real gums, as it is well-known, the number of bullets which canbe loaded in them is limited to a certain quantity and it is necessaryto load bullets when the number of bullets are fired. The conventionalgame machine is designed to oblige, usually, the player to simulate theaction similar to the loading of bullets. For example, upon thecompletion of predetermined number of times of pulling the trigger lever6 of the model gun 5, the subsequent pulling operation of the triggerlever 6 will makes no contribution to the progression of the game.Further, if the player wants to continue the game, the player is obligedto perform a convenient virtual loading action.

As such a virtual loading action, in the prior art, it is proposed toafford again the player a certain number, approximately 6 times, oftrigger lever action if he had directed a light receiving portionprovided at the tip of the model gun away from the monitor 1 and pulledonce the trigger lever 6 in this state. Such a virtual loading action ofthe prior art, however, can not give the player a real feeling ofloading bullets into the model gun and does not have realism.

The object of the present invention is to overcome the problemsmentioned hereinbefore and to provide a very real feeling of loadingaction with a gun game machine wherein the player holds a model gun awayfrom its casing.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

The virtual bullet loading device of the present invention relates to avirtual bullet loading device for a gun game machine in which the playertakes out and holds a model gun away from a machine casing, comprisingan advance and retreat member disposed at the bottom of the model gunand a loading detection sensor for detecting the shift of the advanceand retreat member. The advance and retreat member steps back and forthbetween the forward position where it is advanced into the model gun andthe backward position where it is remote from the model gun.Additionally, the loading detection sensor is designed to detect theshift of the advance and retreat member between its forward position andbackward position.

The loading detection sensor may be constituted by a mechanical sensorsuch as a microswitch, a photoelectric sensor such as a photoswitch or adetecting element of any other type.

The advance and retreat member may be designed to normally stay in itsbackward position forced resiliently by the effect of a resilient forceproviding device such as a spring. Alternatively, an advance and retreatmember holding device may be provided for fixing and holding the advanceand retreat member selectively in its forward position or backwardposition to announce the need of virtual bullet loading action to theplayer by shifting the advance and retreat member from its forwardposition to its backward position when the trigger lever is pulled thepredetermined number of times. Moreover, a click feeling providingdevice may be arranged for affording the advance and retreat member aclick impact when the same is shifted from the backward position to theforward position.

The player holds the model gun in his hand and pulls the trigger leveraiming at the shooting target on the monitor. If the tip of the modelgun is directed precisely to the shooting target when the trigger leveris pulled, it will be judged that the target will have been shotprecisely by the model gun and the game progression for showing anon-target impact, for example an increment of the game score, will beperformed. If the model gun tip is not directed precisely to theshooting target when the trigger lever is pulled, it will be judged tohave shot a spot other than the shooting target by mistake and a missedshot scene shall be represented.

The number of times of consecutive operation of the trigger lever whichis afforded to the player is preset to a certain number of times,approximately 6 times for example, and it is necessary to perform avirtual bullet loading action when the number of operations attains thepreset number. Then the player push up the advance and retreat memberprovided at the bottom of the model gun from the underside to push itinto the inside of the model gun. When the same is pushed into the modelgun, a loading detection sensor detects the pushing action and generatesa signal, the output signal resets the number of times of trigger leveroperation to its initial value for permitting the player to pull againthe trigger lever the preset number of times. The action of pushing upthe advance and retreat member into the inside of the model gun issimilar to the real action of loading a cartridge into a real gun forsupplying bullets and the player can enjoy a game having realism.

According to the virtual bullet loading device of the present invention,the game proceeds by pushing the advance and retreat member into themodel gun to imitate the real cartridge loading action each time thetrigger lever will be pulled the preset number of times in a manner toafford the player a virtual bullet loading feeling having realism as forbullet charging action.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating an embodiment of the virtualbullet loading device for the gun game machine of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side cross-section of another embodiment of the virtualbullet loading device for the gun game machine of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an example of the gun game machine towhich the virtual bullet loading device of the present invention can beapplied.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION (EXAMPLE 1)

Now the invention will be described more in detail referring to theaccompanied drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment wherein the virtual bullet loading device ofthe present invention is applied to the gun game machine shown in FIG.3. A monitor 1 and a computer 7 shown in FIG. 1 are arranged in amachine casing 2 of the game machine shown in FIG. 3 and variouselectric apparatus in a model gun 5 are coupled to the computer 7through an electric communication line 8. The computer 7 comprises, asit is well-known in the art, a CPU 9, an input interface 10, an outputinterface 11 and a memory 12.

The model gun 5 comprises a grip 13 and a gun body 14 to imitate a realgun and the inside of the grip 13 contains the following elements: anadvance and retreat member 15 preferably reproducing the shape of acartridge, a loading detection sensor 16 constituted by, for example, amicroswitch and a device 17 for holding the advance and retreat member15. The advance and retreat member holding device 17 comprises a lever19 for pivoting about a pin 18, an electromagnetic solenoid 20 forurging the lever 19 and a compression spring 21 for biasing the lever 19to the left of the figure. This advance and retreat member holdingdevice 17 serves both as an advance and retreat member holding means formaintaining the advance and retreat member 15 and as a click feelingaffording means to provide a click impact to the advance and retreatmember 15.

On the right side of the advance and retreat member 15 are formed twowedge-form recesses 22a and 22b with one of which engages a wedge-formboss 23 disposed at the lower end of the lever 19. In the figure, theboss 23 engages with the lower recess 22b and, in this state, theadvance and retreat member 15 is maintained at its forward position(shown by the solid line) inside the model gun 5. On the other hand,when the boss 23 engages with the upper recess 22a, the advance andretreat member 15 is maintained at its backward position (shown by thechain line) remote downward from the model gun 5. The advance andretreat member 15 is elastically urged by a compression spring 24 in thedownward direction, or in the direction from the forward position towardthe backward position.

A trigger sensor 25 composed of a microswitch is arranged in the gunbody 14 and the trigger sensor 25 is turned ON when a trigger lever 6 ispulled in the direction of the arrow A. A photo sensor 26 is attached tothe tip of the gun body 14 for detecting the shooting target displayedon the monitor 1.

Now the function of the virtual bullet loading device composed asmentioned above will be described.

In FIG. 1, a sequence of images representing a game story is displayedon the monitor 1 through raster scan according to the game story storedin the memory 12 in the computer 7. The game story contains shootingtargets. The player aims at the shooting target for directing the tip ofthe model gun and pulls the trigger lever 6. When he pulls out thetrigger lever 6, the monitor 1 displays a white screen instantaneouslyto detect the shot position. That is, the monitor 1 flashesinstantaneously. Since this white screen is realized by a raster scanbeginning from the upper left corner of the monitor 1, when a rasterlight appears at a position of coordinates, the photosensor 26 detectsthe light and by reading the raster scan ordinate and abscissa at thistime, the position to which the photosensor is directed, namely theposition hit by the model gun 5 will be detected as a position ofcoordinates. The CPU 9 determines if this hit position corresponds tothe shooting target and if the result is affirmative, the computer willrepresent a scene of good hit by, for example, increasing the gamescore, and if it is negative, the CPU 9 judges that the shooting targetis not hit precisely and represents a scene of a missed shot.

The CPU 9 renews the count value of a counter 27 each time it receives adetection signal from a trigger detection sensor 25 and turns on asolenoid 20 instantaneously when the renewed values reaches the presetvalue, for example 6 times. At the same time, it stops temporarily theprogress of the game. For example, a subsequent pulling operation of thetrigger lever 6 is judged invalid to be excluded from the judgment ofwhether the shooting target is hit or not. When the solenoid 20 isturned on instantaneously, the lever 19 turns a little counterclockwiseto disengage the boss 23 and the lower recess 22b of the advance andretreat member 15 for ejecting the advance and retreat member 15 to thebackward position (shown by the chain line) by the force of a spring 24.

Confirming this ejection by sight or hand feeling, the player noticesthat the number of operations of the trigger lever 6 has attained thepreset number of times and in response to this, he resets the advanceand retreat member 15 to its forward position (shown by the solid line)by pushing up its bottom. When the advance and retreat member 15 isreset to its forward position, the loading detection sensor 16 detectsthis reset action and generates a detection signal to be received by theCPU 9 which will reset the counter 27 to enable the game to continue. Inthis way, each time the number of operations of the trigger lever 6reaches the preset number of times, the player pushes up the advance andretreat member 15 to its forward position to continue the game. Theaction of pushing up the advance and retreat member 15 to its forwardposition being similar to that of loading a cartridge into a real gun,the player can enjoy a game having realism.

The loading detection sensor 16 and the trigger detection sensor 25 maybe constituted by photosensors or by any other type of detection elementother than microswitch.

Moreover, when the advance and retreat member 15 is set to its forwardposition, the boss 23 rushes rapidly into the lower recess 22b of theadvance and retreat member 15 according to the force of the spring 21for generating a relatively light impact. This impact will be felt as aclick by the player and create realism of loading a cartridge into areal gun.

(EXAMPLE 2)

FIG. 2 illustrates another embodiment of the virtual bullet loadingdevice for gun game machine of the present invention. The device issimilar to that of FIG. 1 except that the advance and retreat memberholding device 17 is omitted. Similar members in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 arereferred by the same number and, therefore, their description will beomitted.

In the virtual bullet loading device of this embodiment, an advance andretreat member 15 is normally maintained at its backward position awayfrom a model gun 35 by the force of a spring 24. As in the embodiment ofFIG. 1, when the number of operations of the trigger lever 6 hasattained the preset number of times, the player resets the advance andretreat member 15 to its forward position by pushing up its bottom. Whena loading detection sensor 16 detects this pushing up action, a counterfor counting the trigger operation is set to enable the game tocontinue.

While the present invention has been described with respect to preferredembodiments thereof, it will be understood that they do not limit theinvention and that variations and modifications may be effected withinthe scope and spirit of the invention which is defined in the followingclaims.

For example, the virtual bullet loading device of the present inventioncan be applied not only to gun game machines of the construction shownin FIG. 3 but also to those of various other construction. Also, themethod for detecting the shooting target displayed on the monitor is notlimited to the one using a photosensor described above. The advance andretreat member holding mechanism for maintaining the advance and retreatmember 15 in its either forward or backward position and the mechanismfor affording the advance and retreat member a click feeling are alsonot limited to the advance and retreat member holding device 17illustrated in FIG. 1. For example, it is also possible to make theadvance and retreat member 15 fall down to the backward position by itsown weight.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The virtual bullet loading device of the present invention can beadvantageously applied to game machines for business use and moreparticularly, to gun game machines.

We claim:
 1. A virtual bullet loading device used in a gun game machinewherein a player takes out and holds a model gun away from a gamemachine casing, comprising:an advance and retreat member which isdisposed at the bottom of the model gun and moves back and forth betweena forward position where said member is advanced into the model gun anda backward position where said member is remote from the model gun and aloading detection sensor for detecting shift of said advance and retreatmember between said forward position and said backward position.
 2. Avirtual bullet loading device used in a gun game machine as claimed inclaim 1 wherein the advance and retreat member is biased resiliently tonormally stay in said backward position.
 3. A virtual bullet loadingdevice used in a gun game machine as claimed in claim 1, furthercomprising an advance and retreat member holding device for fixing andholding the advance and retreat member selectively in its forwardposition or backward position.
 4. A virtual bullet loading device usedin a gun game machine as claimed in any one of claims 1-3, furthercomprising a click feeling providing device for giving the advance andretreat member a click impact when the advance and retreat member isshifted from the backward position to the forward position.